Alienware Area 51 r2 not posting. Makes clicking noise.

A few months ago my alienware started having problems. The computer would freeze and make a buzzing noise while gaming, and gpu temps got to 86 Celsius. This became more progressive and I contacted alienware. I was sent replacement gpu's of my 980's (triple sli). This seemed to fix the problem until the other day when the old problem returned. Screen frozen showing last image displayed, loud buzzing noise. I was asked by a dell rep to try and verify where the buzzing noise was coming from. I had planned to do that today when I tried to turn on my computer and it will not post. There is a clicking noise which I believe is coming from the psu every 3 seconds. My keyboard rgb lights are on but not my rgb mouse or game pad. The monitor says entering safe mode. I am at a loss of what to do from here. I have had the new gpus for 3 days and the problem has only gotten worse.

However, since it sounds like you are in the middle of a warranty repair event and recall ... it would probably be better if you called them and let them know what is going on. Anything we tell you to do is just going to hamper the progress of the technicians that are responsible for fixing it.

I am curious though ... do you have the 850w or 1500w Power Supply in your Area51-R2?

Also, is it connected to a nice, high-wattage UPS (like maybe a APC 1500 LCD) ?

Yes, the clicking it the main power relay. My Aurora-R6 makes the same sound when turning on. Same with my high-powered Onkyo AVR. It only lets the main output power stage stay connected if it detects there is nothing wrong (otherwise, something would fry or blow-up).

pdate. I reseated the memory and gpus, and reconnected each individual power cord coming from the psu to its place, and made sure the connections were snug. The clicking noise is gone. I think it may have been a beep but the mic is probably not too good by now. Next I reset the cmos battery as I performed an update to the bios per support assists recommendation, updating from the a10 to the a11 bios. This went smoothly but now that I think about it this was when I stopped getting my bios screen. The computer does not click or beep or do anything. All items connected now have power, but the computer still does not post. The monitor keeps going into safe mode and I have tried all three gpus with the dvi cable. I am completely stuck.

Like I said ... probably better if you don't mess with it. However, I didn't catch before that they sent you the parts for a self-repair, so I guess it's cool.

I think you can tell a relay "click" from a speaker "beep". So, which was it? Click ON is normal. Clicking Off (instead of starting) ... that sounds bad to me. By design but still a bad sign.

Hopefully the motherboard didn't just brick itself. But I think you would know (it never would have finished that initial procedure). I'm sure you know what it's suppose to look like as a whole event. Myself, I like to flash BIOS from FreeDOS (see my Bookmarks).

According to your first post, this machine likes to "not post" so probably still the original problem. I'm guessing motherboard or power supply. There should be a test switch and LED on back of PS.

As for motherboard, try installing minimum memory. Try installing only your best looking Nvidia card in main slot and cross your fingers. Don't assume all 3 of those new 980's are good. Keep that warranty coverage paid-up.

I got the system working.After breaking down the computer to just the bare minumum, the middle GPU posts. The other 2 did not. I was worried they were defective. Upon starting the system, there was a message from nVidia regarding a change to the configuration. (This was probably caused by the CMOS reset, which most likely did fix the POST problem.) I adjusted and put them back in SLI and all 3 GPUS work again. I will monitor the system for any of the previous problems, but for now, the major issue is resolved. PHEW!

Sure no problem. Glad you got it working. I've been in your shoes before and it's not fun. Sometimes it's just nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

Simplifying the installed hardware config usually helps. Once you get to something minimum that works, you can work your way back to a more normal config.

I thought maybe CarbonBasedLifeform would jump into the thread, but he usually only posts during our night. Anyway, he is one of the actively-posting resident experts around here on the Area51-R2 these days.

Seems these motherboards do work OK mostly, however ... they can get confused during BIOS updates and config changes. Thankfully, a BIOS reset, loading of BIOS defaults, or CMOS battery pull (with power dissipation while it's out) is usually enough to get it forced back into submission (reset and work properly darn it).

Tri-SLI is a demanding config. If it gives you problems again, you might consider running on only 2 for a while to see if that is more stable.

I found this Nvidia driver to be stable, while one of the other slightly older ones is very bad and crashes/hard-locks my computer (a Aurora-R6 with GTX-1070):

v378.78 03-09-2017 WHQL Driver (from nvdia.com)

That big computer and all those cards need lots of nice, stable, clean power. Still think an APC Back-UPS 1500 LCD would be a good investment. Not to mention the insurance and piece-of-mind it provides.